Cybercrime Unit Warns of Rising USSD Call Forwarding Scam Targeting Bank Accounts

• India's National Cybercrime Threat Analytics Unit warns of a sharp rise in USSD-based call forwarding scams leading to financial fraud and silent account takeovers.
• Scammers pose as delivery agents, tricking victims into dialing USSD codes (e.g., starting with 21) to forward all incoming calls, including OTPs and bank verifications, to them.
• This allows criminals to authorize transactions, reset passwords, and take over accounts without the victim's knowledge, as USSD operates without internet and is hard to detect.
• Victims are advised never to dial USSD codes (21, 61, 67 prefixes) from unknown callers and to dial ##002# to cancel all call forwarding services immediately.
• Report suspected fraud to 1930 or the national cybercrime reporting portal; avoid suspicious delivery links and verify information officially.

Why It Matters: Beware of USSD call forwarding scams; never dial unknown codes and report fraud immediately.